Course Descriptions
PHIL 5051 Epistemology
CREDIT HOURS: 3
A study of fundamental issues in the theory of knowledge. The course examines skepticism, and investigates the nature of knowledge, belief, meaning, evidence, and truth. Questions are raised about perception and memory and their relation to knowledge as are questions about our knowledge of ourselves and other people.
FORMAT:
EXCLUSIONS:
PHIL 3051.03
PHIL 5055 Topics in Epistemology
CREDIT HOURS: 3
In this seminar course, students focus on a particular topic in epistemology and investigate it in detail. When the course is offered, the topic is assigned by the Department at the end of the preceding academic year and is then posted at the Department and in the Faculty’s timetable on the Web.
FORMAT: Seminar
CROSS-LISTING:
PHIL 4055.03
PHIL 5070 Topics in Philosophical Psychology
CREDIT HOURS: 3
In this seminar course, students focus on a particular topic in the philosophy of psychology and investigate it in detail. When the course is offered, the topic is assigned by the Department at the end of the preceding academic year and is then posted at the Department and in the Faculty's timetable on the web.
FORMAT: Seminar
EXCLUSIONS:
PHIL 4070.03
PHIL 5105 Ethics
CREDIT HOURS: 3
What is it that makes right actions right and wrong actions wrong? This course is a detailed and self-critical survey of four families of moral theories and some critical challenges these theories have faced. This course can help you come to a better justified set of moral beliefs.
FORMAT:
EXCLUSIONS: Phil 3105 (co-located)
PHIL 5110 History of Ethics: Plato to Epicurus
CREDIT HOURS: 3
In this course we will carefully read a number of seminal works in the history of Western Moral Philosophy covering Plato, Aristotle, Stoicism and Epicureanism.
CROSS-LISTING:
PHIL 3110.03
PHIL 5111 History of Ethics: Kant's Moral Theory
CREDIT HOURS: 3
In this course we will look closely at one of the most seminal thinkers in the history of Western Moral Philosophy. The course will explore Kant's own writing, some of his most important predecessors, and contemporary commentators. The course will aim to develop a plausible understanding of Kantian ethics - including both its normative and meta-ethical commitments. A primary concern will be the relevance of Kant's views for contemporary moral reflection.
CROSS-LISTING:
PHIL 3115.03
PHIL 5115 Topics in Ethics I
CREDIT HOURS: 3
In this seminar course, students focus on a particular topic in ethical theory and investigate it in detail. When the course is offered, the topic is assigned by the Department at the end of the preceding academic year and is then posted at the Department and in the Faculty’s timetable on the Web.
FORMAT: Seminar
CROSS-LISTING:
PHIL 4115.03
PHIL 5120 Theory of Rational Decision
CREDIT HOURS: 3
How would rational people choose which actions to do given what they desire? We will see that theories about this have evolved to respond to such toy problems as the Prisoner Dilemma and The Deterrence Paradox. We then explore the relationship between rationality and other phenomena. e.g., is it always rational to be moral? Are persons necessarily rational? (What about those with mental health issues?) Would rational persons always be prudent, i.e., always make choices now in light of desires they expect to have, not just those they currently have? Are good laws necessarily ones people would find it rational to accept and follow? We eventually examine whether rationality is grounded in people's actual desires, or whether there are objective constraints on desires it is rational to have and to choose from, whether desires are relevant at all, and whether there can be a single standard of rationality for all times and all people. Throughout we apply philosophical accounts of rationality to selected issues of moment, e.g., to issues in war, governance, democracy, intelligence, and cyber ethics, many of these dealt with as they arise in processing issues being mooted by the American think tank, the Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law. The association between that think tank and the class means that students can expect to have influence at the highest levels of government and policy.
FORMAT: Seminar
EXCLUSIONS:
PHIL 4120.03
PHIL 5125 Topics in Ethics II
CREDIT HOURS: 3
In this seminar course, students focus on a particular topic in ethics and investigate it in detail when the course is offered. The topic is assigned by the department at the end of the preceding academic year and is then posted at the department and in the faculty's timetable on the Web.
FORMAT: Seminar
EXCLUSIONS:
PHIL 4125.03
PHIL 5140 Logic: Logical Theory I
CREDIT HOURS: 3
An introduction to metalogic, with special attention to the soundness and completeness of formal systems, and to the philosophical evaluation of non-classical logics.
FORMAT:
PREREQUISITES:
PHIL 2130.03 or equivalent
CROSS-LISTING:
PHIL 3140.03
PHIL 5150 Contemporary Metaethics
CREDIT HOURS: 3
This seminar course surveys contemporary work in metaethics – the branch of moral philosophy concerned with the metaphysical, epistemological, semantic and psychological commitments of moral discourse and practice.
FORMAT: Seminar
CROSS-LISTING:
PHIL 4150.03
PHIL 5165 Logic: Logical Theory II
CREDIT HOURS: 3
Devoted primarily to the study of formal semantics and its relation to symbolic language.
FORMAT:
PREREQUISITES: Permission of the instructor.
EXCLUSIONS: Phil 4165 (co-located)
PHIL 5170 Contemporary Feminist Theories
CREDIT HOURS: 3
Contemporary feminism is not a single theory but comprises multiple theoretical perspectives, reflecting both a diversity in women's experience of subordination and a diversity of interests and approaches. This course aims to present some of the richness and variety in feminist theory while offering students the opportunity for sustained critical engagement with influential feminist thinkers.
FORMAT:
EXCLUSIONS:
GWST 3500.03,
PHIL 3170.03
PHIL 5190 Topics in the History of Philosophy I
CREDIT HOURS: 3
In this seminar course, students focus on a particular topic in the History of Philosophy and investigate it in detail. When the course is offered, the topic is assigned by the Department at the end of the preceding academic year and is then posted at the Department and in the Faculty’s timetable on the Web.
FORMAT: Seminar
EXCLUSIONS:
PHIL 4190.03
PHIL 5191 Topics in the History of Philosophy II
CREDIT HOURS: 3
In this seminar course, students focus on a particular topic in Modern Philosophy (e.g., the work of Descartes or Spinoza) and investigate it in detail. When the course is offered, the topic is assigned by the Department at the end of the preceding academic year and is then posted at the Department and in the Faculty’s timetable on the Web.
FORMAT: Seminar
CROSS-LISTING:
PHIL 4191.03
PHIL 5192 Topics in the History of Philosophy III
CREDIT HOURS: 3
In this seminar course, students focus on a particular topic in Modern Philosophy (e.g., the work of Locke or Hume) and investigate it in detail. When the course is offered, the topic is assigned by the Department at the end of the preceding academic year and is then posted at the Department and in the Faculty’s timetable on the Web.
FORMAT: Seminar
CROSS-LISTING:
PHIL 4192.03
PHIL 5200 Topics in Normative Theory
CREDIT HOURS: 3
In this seminar course, students focus on a particular topic in Normative Theory (e.g. Environmental Justice, Meta-Ethics, Peace and War, Evolutionary Ethics) and investigate it in detail. When the course is offered, the topic is assigned by the Department at the end of the preceding academic year and is then posted at the Department and in the Faculty’s timetable on the Web.
FORMAT: Seminar
CROSS-LISTING:
PHIL 4200.03
PHIL 5211 Philosophy of Law
CREDIT HOURS: 3
Is coercion central to law? How are law and morality related? What justification can be given for punishment? What is the appropriate scope of individual liberty? These and other issues relating to the analysis and evaluation of law will be considered. The course will examine the competing claims of the Positivist, Realist, and Natural Law accounts of law before turning to some normative issues concerning the justification of legal practice.
FORMAT:
CROSS-LISTING:
PHIL 3211.03
PHIL 5220 Contemporary Philosophical Issues
CREDIT HOURS: 3
Intensive study of a few topics which are currently being debated and may fall outside of or cut across standard classification of areas of interest. Examples are: evolution and value, philosophical accounts of "race" and culture, artificial intelligence, theories of causation, supervenience.
FORMAT: Seminar
EXCLUSIONS:
PHIL 4220.03
PHIL 5300 Philosophy of Language
CREDIT HOURS: 3
How is it possible for this string of marks to ask you a question? What is it for a word to have a meaning? Is the meaning of a word an idea that you associate with it? Is it the objects in the world that it picks out? Is it an abstract "object" of some kind? What is the relationship between language and the world? Between words and sentences? Between what I mean and what I say? Between saying and acting? Between what I say and what you understand? Between meaning and linguistic use? Between meaning and behaviour? Between meaning and truth? Between the literal and the metaphorical? Is there any fact of the matter about what a linguistic expression means? Is there any such thing as linguistic meaning at all? This introduction to some major themes in the Philosophy of Language will explore answers to such questions as these, focusing on the work of such figures as Locke, Frege, Russell, Wittgenstein, Carnap, Quine, Chomsky, Austin, Langton, Saul, Searle, Hesse and Davidson.
FORMAT:
PREREQUISITES: Two previous classes in philosophy including one logic course, half or full-year
EXCLUSIONS: PHIL 3300.03